Admit Pass no.

Section A

I. Elaborate ONE of the following statements in approximately 350 words. (30)

A. Every problem has a gift for you in its hands.
B. It doesn’t matter whether you win or lose, but you should play the game.
C. What a day may bring, a day may take away.

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 Admit Pass no.

SECTION B

II. Read carefully the two passages given below and answer the questions that follow.
Passage 1
FEUERSTEIN’S THEORY OF MEDIATION
1. Reuven Feuerstein (an Israeli psychologist) suggests that right from birth a child’s
learning is shaped by the intervention of significant adults. He refers to these important
figures in the child’s learning as mediators or mediating adults, and the experiences that
they provide as mediated learning experiences. These adults, at first parents, but later
teachers, select and organize stimuli that they consider most appropriate for the child,
shape them and present them in the ways considered most suitable to promote
learning. They also intervene in shaping the child’s early attempts at responding to
stimuli, directing and encouraging more appropriate responses whilst explaining why
one response is more appropriate than another. Thus, in contrast to Piagetian theory,
where it is believed that children develop at their own pace through interaction with the
environment, the way in which significant adults interact with children is considered to
play a central part in the latter’s cognitive development. This enables the child to
construct a view of the world and his or her place within it. Cognitive, social and
emotional development are seen as inextricably linked, and the establishment of an
appropriate climate in the home or classroom within which this can be effectively
fostered is as important as the content of what is conveyed.

2. Where Feuerstein is less clear, however, is with regard to the part played by the child
within the interactive process of mediation. It is worth noting here the dominant role
played by the powerful adult within Feuerstein’s theory. There is certainly room for
criticism of the lack of attention he gives to the learner’s contribution to the mediating
process. What we now know from studies of early childhood development is that within
the social context of the family, the actions of children affect those of the parents as
well as the other way round. Thus, it is important to see the child as an active participant
in the mediation process, and that this process is truly interactive rather than
unidirectional.

3. Feuerstein does not deny the importance of what the individual learner brings to the
learning situation and to the development of what he terms ‘efficient cognitive
functioning’ (i.e. effective thinking and problem-solving), and in this he can be seen to be
supportive of some aspects of Piagetian theory. However, he emphasizes the centrality
of mediated learning experiences above all else in cognitive development and learning
to learn. At the same time, he differs from a behaviourist viewpoint in his emphasis
upon the role played by culture in guiding the effective mediator in his or her actions.
Thus, a vital role for both parents and educators is the transmission of culture from one
generation to the next, and the term ‘culturally deprived’ is used by Feuerstein to refer
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to those who have been denied access to their culture. It should be noted here that this
is a very different use of the term ‘culturally deprived’ to that often employed.

4. The key question to ask at this point is to what extent the concept of mediator differs
from a more narrow view of the teacher as disseminator of information. We see a
fundamental difference. First, mediation must be concerned with empowering, with
helping learners to acquire the knowledge, skills and strategies they will need in order to
progress, to learn more, to tackle problems, to function effectively in a particular culture
and a changing society, and to meet new, emerging and unpredictable demands. It is
also concerned with helping learners to become autonomous, to take control of their
own learning, with the fundamental aim of enabling them to become independent
thinkers and problem-solvers. In response to this, readers may well argue that this is,
and always has been, the job of a good teacher, in which case, their concept of what a
teacher is has already encompassed the notion of mediation. Nevertheless, we see the
distinction between the teacher as mediator and teacher as instructor as a useful one
for the purpose of our discussion.

5. Second, it is important to establish that mediation involves interaction between

mediator and learner, and that the learner is an active participant in the process. Third,
there is an emphasis on reciprocation, that is, the importance of the learner
reciprocating the intentions of the mediator or teacher. This means that the learner is
ready and willing to carry out the task presented, and that there is an agreement as to
what should be done and why. Reciprocation can occur at the level of acceptance and
willingness to comply, or it may involve a process of negotiation whereby agreement is
reached as a result of other meditational activities. Feuerstein calls this the principle of
reciprocity, one which he sees as often lacking in classrooms. Fourth, it is important to
note that learner autonomy involves more than the provision of suitable self-access
materials. The mediator needs to help the learners to interact with the materials in
various ways until they become truly self-directed.

(Source: Psychology for Language Teachers: A social constructive approach by Marion

Williams and Robert L Burden)

Choose the correct answer to each of the following questions and write the
corresponding letter in the brackets. (10 x1= 10)

1. In Feuerstein’s theory, which of the following will not be a stimulus? [ ]

A. books
B. vaccines
C. toys

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2. In the sentence, “This enables the child to construct a view of the world and his or her
place within it,” (paragraph1) the pronoun this refers to [ ]
A. the nature of interaction of significant adults with children.
B. children’s interaction with the environment.
C. the cognitive development of the child.

3. In paragraph 1 of the passage, the word inextricably is closest in meaning to the word
[ ]
A. indiscriminately.
B. arbitrarily.
C. inseparably.

4. The fundamental difference between the theories of Feuerstein and Piaget is that
[ ]
A. Piaget’s theory is more one-sided while Feuerstein’s
does justice to all parties concerned.

B. Feuerstein’s theory emphasizes the role played by

the child in the learning process.

C. Feuerstein’s theory substitutes parents for Piaget’s environment.

5. Feuerstein assumes that [ ]

A. the child is able to make qualitative judgments
about stimuli under the guidance of the mediators.
B. the child is a tabula rasa that can be imprinted
by adults under controlled conditions.
C. the child is perpetually engaged in constructing a view of
the world and his or her place within it, which Piaget ignores.

6. The theories of Feuerstein and Piaget can be said to converge over [ ]

A. the role played by culture in guiding the mediator.

B. the impact of cultural deprivation on the child.

C. the contribution of the learner to the learning process.

7. For Feuerstein, cultural deprivation is a result of [ ]

A. the denial of access to culture due to circumstantial causes.

B. adults not being able to choose appropriate stimuli.
C. colonization of the learner’s mind.

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8. According to the passage, the teacher as a mediator is primarily concerned with the
learner’s [ ]
A. academic achievement.
B. preparedness for tackling things on his own.
C. attempt to acquire the ability to change society through education.
9. Reciprocation, as mentioned in the passage, involves the learner [ ]
A. sharing the intentions of the teacher/mediator.
B. knowing the teacher/mediator’s aims.

C. anticipating the teacher/mediator’s intentions.

10. Which of the following statements captures the author’s response to Feuerstein’s
theory? [ ]
A. An unconditional acceptance of Feuerstein’s theory.
B. A somewhat guarded endorsement of Feuerstein’s theory.
C. A strong refutation of Piaget’s theory.
Passage 2
THE PROCESS OF WRITING
1. The fragments of information we have about any great writer’s method of work
should be enough to convince us that the process of creation is as surprising and varied
as mankind itself. It would not surprise or disconcert me in the least if the plot of Romeo
and Juliet had been conceived as a homosexual love affair. I have known very few
writers, but those I have known, and whom I respect, confess at once that they have
little idea where they are going when they first set pen to paper. They have a character,
perhaps two; they are in that condition of eager discomfort which passes for inspiration;
all admit to radical changes of destination once the journey has begun; one, to my
certain knowledge, spent nine months on a novel about Kashmir, then reset the whole
thing in the Scottish Highlands. I never heard of anyone making a ‘skeleton’, as we were
taught at school. In the breaking and remaking, in the timing, interweaving, beginning
afresh, the writer comes to discern things in his material which were not consciously in
his mind when he began. This organic process, often leading to moments of
extraordinary self-discovery, is of an indescribable fascination. A blurred image appears;
he adds a brushstroke and another, and it is gone; but something was there, and he will
not rest till he has captured it. Sometimes the yeast within a writer outlives a book he
has written. I have heard of writers who read nothing but their own books; like
adolescents they stand before the mirror, and still cannot fathom the exact outline of
the vision before them. For the same reason, writers talk interminably about their own
books, winkling out hidden meanings, superimposing new ones, begging response from

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those around them. Of course a writer doing this is misunderstood: he might as well try
to explain a crime or a love affair. He is also, incidentally, an unforgivable bore.
2. This temptation to cover the distance between himself and the reader, to study his
image in the sight of those who do not know him, can be his undoing: he has begun to
write to please.
3. A young English writer made the pertinent observation a year or two back that the
talent goes into the first draft, and the art into the drafts that follow. For this reason also
the writer, like any other artist, has no resting place, no crowd or movement in which he
may take comfort, no judgment from outside which can replace the judgment from
within. A writer makes order out of the anarchy of his heart; he submits himself to a
more ruthless discipline than any critic dreamed of, and when he flirts with fame, he is
taking time off from living with himself, from the search for what his world contains at
its inmost point.
4. Talent and art, the man said.
5. Talent is a combination of the gift of response and the gift of abstraction; art the
organization of talent. There is no life which is so satisfying; so sacred from intrusion as
the writer’s. Only one thing is asked of the writer: that he tell his story as best he can,
and having done so, curiously enough, get on with another. That is as near to freedom as
anyone will ever get. But don’t tell him that, or he will find ways of giving his freedom
up. (Source: What Every Writer Wants by John Le Carre)
Choose the correct answer to each of the following questions and write the
corresponding letter in the brackets. (10 x 1=10)

1. According to the passage, the teaching of writing in school is [ ]

A. largely skeletal in nature.
B. out of sync with learners’ real needs.
C. outdated, but not without some relevance.
2. The paradox about great writers is that they [ ]
A. want to know how they are understood by those who
do not know them.
B. can understand their own work better only through
discussions with others.
C. can be great bores.
3. In paragraph 1, the use of the word yeast is [ ]
A. pejorative, since it suggests a hollow expansion.
B. natural, because it is a necessary pre-condition
for the writing process.
C. laudatory, as it is seen as being almost as important to as inspiration.
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4. In paragraph 1, crime and love are [ ]
A. the staples of a novelist’s work.
B. concepts that cannot be easily described.
C. often misunderstood in society.
5. We can sum up a great book as something that is born in [ ]
A. anarchy and ends in order.
B. discipline and ends in interminable meaning-making attempts.
C. obscurity and ends in flirting with fame.
6. In paragraph 5, the expression the gift of abstraction, implies [ ]
A. the ability to form purely intellectual ideas, far removed from the
concrete, real world, initially.
B. the ability to generalize from the particular.
C. the tendency to verify select aspects of the world for use in the novel.

7. The creative process cannot be compared to [ ]

A. textile-making.
B. spontaneous growth.
C. natural growth.
8. Perhaps the worst state for a writer to be is when s/he [ ]
A. has nothing to write or say.
B. gets no response from the readers.
C. begins to pander to the tastes of the general public.
9. In paragraph 5, the word curiously means [ ]
A. inquisitively.
B. strangely.
C. weirdly.
10. The relationship between freedom and the writers is that they [ ]
A. cannot handle freedom.
B. need freedom if they are to write well.
C. are given more of it than anyone else in society.

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 Admit Pass no.

Section C

III. Read the text given below. It has some phrasal verbs written in bold. Try to guess
the meanings of the phrasal verbs from the text.

It was my first ever flight, that too an international flight. My older brother and I
were visiting my aunt in New Jersey, USA. I had never been out of Bangalore and was
excited to get away from the city for some time. Since the airport was far away, we
set off quite early in the afternoon. We were expected to check in two hours before
boarding time. My parents and grandfather came to the airport to see us off. In fact,
my mother was happy to pack us off to the US so that she could do her college work
in peace! Fortunately for me, the plane took off on time. I had a window seat, and as
we flew over the Atlantic, I could see the sea bend or flatten suddenly. It was a
breathtaking sight! We stopped over in London for our next connecting flight. My
aunt was coming to New York to pick us up. We touched down in New York city
around 6: 30 in the evening. By the time we checked out it was past 8. I walked out
of the airport slowly and looked for my aunt; to my surprise the sun shone brightly
as if it were 4 in the afternoon.

Choose the correct meaning of each phrasal verb according to the text from the choices
given, and write your choice in the brackets provided against the phrase. (10X1= 10)

1 get away [ ]
A. get rid of
B. have a holiday
C. run away
2 set off [ ]
A. compare with
B. reach a place
C. start a journey
3 check in [ ]
A. show your ticket in order to be allowed to fly
B. buy your tickets
C. enter the airport

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 4 see off [ ]
A. come to say goodbye
B. send away
C. go away
5 pack off [ ]
A. pack clothes
B. send away
C. get ready
6 took off [ ]
A. left
B. removed
C. began
7 stopped over [ ]
A. arrived on time
B. halted for a short time
C. waited for a long time
8 pick up [ ]
A. rescue
B. greet
C. collect
9 touched down [ ]
A. stopped
B. landed
C. got off
10 looked for [ ]
A. stared at
B. tried to find
C. took care of
IV. Read the following sentences carefully. Rewrite the sentences making necessary
corrections. (15X1= 15)

1. If suppose she needs my help, I will do whatever I can.

_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

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2. She objects to tell me her age.
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
3. The students don’t like to be shouted.
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
4. I have big respect for my teachers, friends, and relatives.
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
5. She has wide knowledge of English grammar.
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
6. I met her two days before.
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
7. It’s time Sheila studies for her exams.
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
8. All along the centuries, there have been wars across the world.
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

9. Why didn’t you come for yesterday’s film show? It was a too good film to miss.
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
10. A number of people has registered for the proficiency course in English.
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

11. I can’t think of anybody whom to invite.

_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

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12. After all the exams were over, Anuradha was showing tiredness signs.
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
13. A few students are interested in attending special classes, but the majority doesn’t
care.
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
14. It mustn’t be the postman at the door, it’s only 7 o clock.
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
15. Radhika has collected a lot of informations on English Phonetics.
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

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 Admit Pass no.

Section D
V. Read the following passage carefully and summarize it. The length of the summary
should be one-third of the length of the passage. (25)

--- A woman turns off her cell phone as she enters a movie theatre.
--- A driver eats a candy bar and puts the paper wrapper in the ashtray.
Being polite and neat are characteristics of the well-socialized person. Socialization is the
process of learning how to behave in the society we live in. For societies to exist, there
must be some organized way of teaching the members what is expected of them and
how they are to behave. Through socialization, the infant develops into a person like one
of those described above.
Every society tries to socialize its members. The task is performed by several groups and
institutions (called socializing agents). The family, the school, and the peer group (that is
people of the same age) are the most important socializing agents. Of these, the family
is the most important, especially during the first few years of life. A review of various
studies of families has concluded that warm, supportive, moderately strict family
environments usually produce happy and well-behaved children: and that cold, rigid,
and overly strict families tend to cause youngsters to become rebellious, resentful and
insecure.
How, then, do families and other socializing agents teach children how to behave? Two
important ways are by sanctions (rewards and punishments) and by modeling.
Sanctions are consequences that follow a behaviour. The behaviour may or may not be
repeated depending on the influences of these sanctions. Positive sanctions mean that
the behaviour is followed by something that is a reward. If a child asks a parent ‘May I
have some gum, please?’ and the parent gives the child some gum, the child learns that
saying ‘please’ at the end of a request results in getting what he asked for. Negative
sanctions (also known as punishment) mean that something bad happens after a
behaviour occurs. When a child says ‘Gimme some gum” and the parent says ‘No gum
until you learn to ask politely’ and does not give the child the gum, the child learns that
it is not a good idea to speak this way because he does not get what he wants.
Modeling refers to learning by watching the behaviour of others - especially parents -
and copying that behaviour. Modeling influences both positive and negative behaviour.
For example, children who are respectful to elderly people have probably seen their
parents do things such as helping older people onto trains and buses. On the other
hand, children whose parents are alcoholics are more likely than other children to
become alcoholics themselves.
It is easy to assume that every culture socializes children in the same way. Studies of
other cultures, however, show that children are socialized differently depending on the
culture they are brought up in.

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A study of 6-11 year old children in six farming communities in the United States, Kenya,
Okinawa, northern India, the Philippines, and Mexico is a good example. The researchers
found a big difference between the types of household chores that children were
expected to do in these cultures. More importantly, they found that parental
expectations about work around the house were an important part of children’s
socialization. Where children were expected to take care of their younger children and
do chores that helped the whole household, they learned quickly to be responsible and
caring towards others. In communities like the one studied in the United States, where
children were only expected to do chores such as cleaning their rooms and picking up
toys, they were less likely to develop these traits at an early age. Of course, not every
family in a particular culture socializes their children in exactly the same way - and this
would be true of expectations about household chores also. Nevertheless, many cross-
cultural differences in socialization have been identified by researchers. (617 words)

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